Let's Try Not to Die - Onmyo & Magic - Sekigahara

Onmyoji Through Sekigahara

Mission: Sekigahara
Region: Sekigahara
Difficulty: Way of the Nioh

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0:28 : Mission Start
2:09 : Boss - Otani Yoshitsugu
3:52 : Village Battlefront
6:47 : Western alliance artillery embankment
10:11 : Boss - Shima Sakon

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We're going through the mission Sekigahara without dying or using quick-change scrolls. The battlefield is littered with human enemies, so inflicting confusion, while helpful, is not going to be the core of combat when engaging difficult or cursed enemies. On Way of the Nioh difficulty, there are a few added hostile onmyoji to contend with as well as a few yokai enemies hiding in some areas, but its a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of footsoldiers and samurai you'll be fighting.

The first portion will have the player face Otani Yoshitsugu in short order. Yoshitsugu has an unusually high resistance to onmyo elemental damage and buildup, even when exploiting his elemental weakness with lightning attacks. Additionally, Yoshitsugu is a small target and is quite mobile, leading to issues when using strategies involving the thunderstorm talisman or slow-moving explosive shot talismans as options for damage and ailment buildup. There is a sliver-lining though: Yoshitsugu is very vulnerable at zero ki as he will drop down to one knee and do nothing for a few seconds for you to deliver some huge damage, so I opt to use ki blast talismans to drain as much ki as quick as possible to get that opening rather than attempt confusion infliction. Yoshitsugu will usually spam two moves: the God of Wind kick and follow-up slash, especially if you move behind him, and a flying lunging stab which he will perform twice in succession at lower life; he does have other attacks, but they're not used that often. If Yoshitsugu envelops his swords with a spirit aura, he can shoot projectiles from his sword attacks, which is the only dangerous part of his other attacks.

Following Otani's defeat and traversing the battlefront beyond mount Matsuo, the player will face off against Shima Sakon. Sakon's spear attack moveset is standard fare: entangle sweeps, body swaps, celestial spear, tornado, a neutral stab, and an evade stab. There are only two moves that are dangerous in Sakon's kit: his nearly 0-frame-windup one-handed grapple and his nearly 0-frame-windup special version of celestial spear when he activates living weapon. These two techs deal a lot of damage, have pretty much 0 indication ahead of time that they will be executed, and have built-in unblockable properties (the initial launcher hit on celestial spear can be guarded but not the aerial drop stab). The grapple is easy enough to avoid since he will whiff it if you move around to his back or keep at a distance, usually opting for a spear attack. The celestial spear is a bit trickier since it hits an area around Sakon, even behind him, though it does have a limited range. One strategy around the living weapon threat is to play slightly more passive in order to prep a block or to keep at a distance to bait a stab attack. I opted to avoid the living weapon mode when his life dipped below the 50% threshold and deliver the coup de grace via a weapon parry active skill, which you can abuse with a sword, spear, dual sword, kusarigama, or tonfa.

I decided not to record a duel montage for either of these bosses as they are not good bosses when compared to their counterparts. Yoshitsugu has a sadly limited move pool, which makes him boring both to fight and spectate. Its a similar story with Sakon: yes, he gets one flashy move and two cheap moves, but his other kit and attack patterns are otherwise limited, making for a boring boss. Sakon barely even uses his guardian spirit attack. That said, Sakon does get a very nice upgrade in a special side mission in the Siege of Osaka - Summer campaign...

Earlier difficulties of Nioh don't usually provide much flexibility in terms of builds for William, so I'll be venturing into the later difficulties of Nioh in order to exemplify some of the potential viability for playing through the game with a focus on onmyo magic and investing in the Magic stat.

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